Dead Weight
by FrigginConfused
Summary: With no raids, a more understanding father, and dragons as friends life is good. But when a horrific incident kills the one who brought it all to them, the rest find themselves struggling to stay together. And what's worse there is danger lurking on the horizon. It would seem there is unfinished business... Brace yourselves, something UNUSUAL this way comes. [Set after first movie]
1. All Fun and Games

Should I die before my time  
Let it be with a hero's goodbye  
And should danger rear its ugly head  
Let me return with death in good supply  
~*~

* * *

Tap- Click- Tap- Click- Tap- Click- Tap- Click-

Everyone had gotten used to the sound of the boy's running. He ran more than ever, and seeing the trouble he used to get into, that was saying something. Most of the time they never knew where he was running, but it always seemed to be with a goofy distracted grin; meeting someone, getting ready for another day of flying, creating another invention, who knew?

"Scuse me, pardon me—ohp sorry about that—coming through!"

Hiccup bursts through the doors of the hall, out into the snowy air where Toothless was eagerly waiting, jumping up at the sight of the boy. Hiccup slips, nearly falling before his dragon catches him and nudges him back upright, and he grins holding up a small wicker basket, waving it about a bit.

"I got it, bud, are you ready to go?" The dragon just jumps more, eager to play their game again. "Haha, I thought so, let's go!" He quickly jumps into Toothless's back and hooks himself into place, the two taking off with a gust of wind as passing Vikings good naturedly shake their heads.

—

"Sorry that took so long buddy, it's becoming an outright obstacle course in there!" Hiccups says, patting the side of the dragon's neck and Toothless just shakes his head with a small snort as if saying not to worry about it. "It's these winter months, you know how it is. Everyone's looking for something to warm them up!" And he wasn't talking about a good fire. "So what do you think, you think you'll get them all this time, eh?"

Toothless just lifts his head with a haughty expression.

Of course he will, who does he think he's talking to?

"Now don't give me that, we both know what happened last time, and I don't want any more incidents like that!" Hiccup says as they enter the open air over the vast ocean. "Do you know how cold it is now?"

Toothless just huffs and shakes himself as they flew. Come on already, no more talk!

"Alright alright!" Hiccup unlatches the lid to the basket, lifting it and pulling out a fish before latching the lid shut again and making sure he was still latched in place himself. "Okay. One… Two… Three!"

Hiccup throws the fish back behind him and Toothless smacks it high into the air with his tail before letting it drop. The moment it reaches the same level as his mouth he fires a blast at it sending it shooting through the air and the two rocket after it.

"WOOOOOHOOOO!"

Hiccup had to admit that next to their horrifying (to other people) trust exercises, practicing speed had to be his favorite.

"YEAH!"

Toothless's teeth snap shut around the fish and Hiccup take out another as they do the same again and again, Toothless doing back flips to catch ones that had ended up behind them instead, shooting upwards to catch the raw ones before he had to cook them for the sake of the exercise.

Odin knew Hiccup certainly couldn't throw them himself!

The two are interrupted by cheering and look to their side to see they'd gathered an audience on the cliff side, the teenagers, and Stoic who came by every so often to make sure things were going well and just to watch the impressive things his son could do.

Hiccup just grins sheepishly and half waves.

"Well there goes the confidence. We've got a few more left, you up for it Toothless?" Toothless just gives a gummy grin and a great flap of his wings in response. "Haha, I thought so—woah!"

Toothless's excited jump caused the basket to slip from Hiccups and the few fish to plummet down, and Hiccup looks up from them to look at Toothless with pursed lips and raised eyebrows.

"… Whoops?"

Toothless practically squeals in horror; His fish!

"No, no, Toothless wait!" Toothless snaps his wings shut and dive bombs after them, snatching fish after fish in his mouth trying to catch them all. That was his dinner after all! He wouldn't care so much but each dragon had their rations and last time this happened Hiccup gave him more food to eat just for him to find later that out it was Hiccup's own food!

And knowing both of their stubbornness, if he didn't catch those darn fish, neither of them would eat tonight.

"Toothless stop!" Toothless finally snap onto the last fish just for his eyes to widen and for him to give a little surprised noise as he realize how close they were to the water, and suddenly they hit it with a splash, sending water spraying and chunks of ice flying before it all settled into rippling waves.

* * *

**Oooookay, wasn't this fun? I've got to say it's been a LONG time since I've actually written something let alone sat down and written a fic, so yes this is my first one in—well—years actually. Yikes.**

**Anyway, hopefully I'll improve as I go, and I try to get at least a 1000+ word count in per update, but honestly this seemed like a pretty good place to stop for the first chapter. I'm not yet sure where I'm going with this yes, but I've got a beginning and I've got an ending so at least I've done the hard part right?**

**I look forward to your comments, and thanks for reading!**


	2. Life is but a Dream

The teens and Stoic rush down to the ocean side quickly, and just in time Toothless pulls himself out of the water.

"T-T-T-Toothless!" Hiccup scolds, still clinging to his back, soaking wet with icy water as they climb onto the slushy snowy beach. This was exactly what happened last time but now it was freezing cold!

"What are ya tryin' ta do, give me a heart attack?!" Stoic's scolding of both of them is added on top of it as he and the teens slow to a halt in front of the two. They knew he'd just been worried though, not really angry. He'd been rather overprotective lately, and for plenty good reason. Hiccup glances down at his feet, or his foot and prosthetic, for a second with just that thought in mind before looking up again.

"Ah, c-c-come on Dad, we all know I'm the best flier in B-B-Berk, it was a minor setback." He says shrugging his shoulder up with a grin.

"While that may be—" Hiccup perks up at the compliment and relaxes when Stoic takes his cloak off, putting it over Hiccup to warm him up, "—ya both need ta learn ta be more careful."

"Yeah, what are you trying to do, lose the other leg?" Snotlout retorts, causing Stoic, Toothless, and Hiccup to put on an unamused expression while the twins perk up at the idea, one of them pretending to walk on two peg legs. "… What? Too soon?"

"Just as well," Stoic says, ignoring the comment and turning back to Hiccup and Toothless, "let's get ya back home now and by tha fire." He says helping Hiccup back onto Toothless.

Everyone mounts their dragons to fly back to the village, for it would be far too long a walk, and as Toothless and Hiccup take off they find Astrid flying back beside them on Stormfly.

Someone had to make sure that big cloak didn't drag Hiccup down; He looked so tiny in it~

Hiccup glances up from his slouched shivering when Astrid calls over to him.

"It was a bit cold for you to be going for a swim, wasn't it?" She says with a grin.

"Oh, come on, you kn-know me, always looking f-f-for a thrill!" The cloak helped a lot at least but his wet hair had already frosted over and half frozen, and Astrid just shakes her head and rolls her eyes looking at it.

"You know, you say that sarcastically but you really are."

"I am?"

"All those dare devil stunts you do—"

"THOSE are trust excercis—"

"Don't you 'those are trust exercises' me." Astrid says, wagging a finger. "You're a thrill seeker, you always have been!"

"Okay the trust exercises I can kind of see, but now you're just being ridiculous."

"Admit it~"

"Admit what? I have nothing to admit t—"

"Thrill seeker!"

"Alright alright!" Hiccup half chuckles and rolls his eyes, "I'm a thrill seeker, you happy? I'm not a pneumonia seeker though, and I'll be lucky if that's not what I got! No offense, bud." Toothless just garbles as a 'none taken'.

"Aw, don't be so grim." Astrid says, giving him a light nudge, "We're already home!"

The group was flying over the village again, the occasional Viking looking up to wave at them. The teens wave to each other, parting ways, and Stoic, Hiccup, Astrid, and their dragons make way to Hiccup's home. They get in and settle down, Hiccup changing into dry clothes and the ice in his hair melting in front of the fire, and they sit to eat.

Hiccup always enjoyed this time of day.

He'd never had it before; he and his father, and occasionally visitors, would just sit in their home and eat by the fire, laughing and tossing back and forth banter with plenty of sarcasm to the side and just genuinely having a good time. The fire would be well fueled and the food plenty and warm, and the drinks would be cold and refreshing. Well, except the one time Stoic had gotten a tad too curious and fed the dragons mead. Both hilarious and destructive.

Finally it had gotten late and the two bid Astrid goodbye and Stoic tucked Hiccup into bed. Hiccup had once thought about protesting, claiming he was too old, but he thought better of it. It was making up for lost time, and it's not like the others would know.

"Dad, do you really think I need the cloak too?" Hiccup asks as Stoic places the large fur cloak on top of the blankets.

"Well ya decided to take a dip in a frozen sea today, at the least it can be warm tonight can't it?"

"But dad, there's a fire right there don-"

"Ah!" Stoic points at Hiccup as if to say not another word.

"Admired and respected by the entire village and I still can't finish a sentence."

Stoic just raises an eyebrow, still pointing, to emphasis his point.

"Alright, alright, cloak too." Hiccup says with a sigh and a small laugh, just to make his dad happy. If he got too hot in the night he could take it off after all.

"Atta boy, I'll see you in the mornin'." Stoic says, blowing out the bedside candle and leaving Hiccup to sleep in his blanket piled bed.

* * *

It was summer.

He stood in the middle of the woods where the trees were lush and green and the grass grew even when the leaves of the trees tried so hard to eat up all the sunlight. The air was humid and warm and the sun was high.

But it was anything but serene.

An unnatural darkness had overtaken the day, and Hiccup found himself in those woods alone, no friends, no Toothless, no Stoic to be seen, and there was an uneasy sense of panic and dread.

"T-Toothless?" He turns around in circles, looking for someone, anyone, "Astrid? Dad?"

The birds in the trees squawked and flew all at once as the ground shook with the sound of soft thunder.

"A-anyone?" Hiccup suddenly gasps when he sees the source of the noise, towering over the trees, a great undead Viking skin nearly as blue as the night sky. And it had spotted him too.

"D-Dad!" It was easy to tell who he wanted by his side now to protect him as he turned and ran, the giant walking after him with thundering footsteps, "Dad! Toothless!"

For the undead Viking it was like an afternoon stroll, and Hiccup gasps again as he trips over a tree root—clumsy even in his dreams—before rolling over to face the beast and scrambling back.

Where was everyone, why was he alone?!

The great beast grabs him and lifts him high in the air, the sun beating down making the humid day hotter and unbearable, and this viking grins up at him with sharp and jagged teeth.

"DAD! DAD HELP!"

* * *

"DAD!" Hiccup wakes with a start, panting, Stoic there throwing the blankets off of him; he was still so hot. "I ca- I can't-" his breathing was coming out in wheezing and coughs and Stoic quickly carries him outside so some fresh cool air could help his lungs and help him calm down. Toothless, of course, met them immediately.

It was the twilight hours, the sun nearly breaking the horizon and most of the town was out and about, looking up to Hiccup and Stoic with curiosity. Stoic just waves them away and to Hiccup's embarrassment explains.

"Nothin' ta worry about, it was just a nightmare, a fever dream."

Hiccup's embarrassment dies down, though, when the townspeople seem to nod knowingly like they've been through it before, and he curls up, shivering.

"It felt so real, though…"

* * *

**There we go, that's a better word count, eh? This was really fun to write actually~**

**I want to thank the couple of reviewers that popped by, it honestly helps me get back into the groove of writing knowing someone is reading. Thanks!**


	3. Morning Visits and Midnight Strolls

"No, no, they said it was just a bad cough and a fever." Hiccup coughs some more and waves his hands dismissively at the teens who'd stopped by to see how Hiccup was doing. Rather, Astrid and Fishlegs came to see how Hiccup was doing. Snotlout's excuse had been, "We—uh—I have to make sure whether or not you're alive or dead don't I? If you die then _I_ become chief next."

Hiccup hadn't said much to that because he realized it was true, and he made a mental note to sneak in his own idea of chiefing lessons later.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut just admitted that they were only there because they were bored and that they usually got free food when they visited. Hiccup took that to mean they were worried. Most of the teens hadn't quite gotten used to the whole 'it's actually okay to hang out with Hiccup' thing.

"Some cough." Astrid says, patting Hiccups back as he goes into another coughing fit.

"Uhg, I know. But believe it or not, I've been sicker."

"Any sicker and you'd be dead." Ruffnut says, scrunching her nose at the thought.

"Thank you, for that." Hiccup sighs, finally pushing himself up from the fur covered couch and setting his hot drink down on the table in front of him, finished. "Whelp. Time to get going."

"Going?" Astrid says, raising an eyebrow, "Where do you think you're going?"

"It's time for chief lessons." Hiccup says matter of factly, and Fishlegs raises one finger.

"Uh, are you sure your dad doesn't want you to stay home this time?"

"Ha! If your chief you don't stay home because of a little cold!" Snotlout retorts, "Which is exactly why Hiccup _should_ stay home."

"Actually he's right." Hiccup says before anyone can interject, and Snotlout looks confused.

"I am?"

"About the first half, as for the second half I've gotten over your teasing ages ago and now see it as an attempt at you trying to defend your masculinity."

"Uh…"

"But still, that's got to be in the chiefing lessons somewhere, it's not exactly a job you can take a sick day on, you know?" Hiccup says with a shrug and another cough. "I'll dress warm," He says with a grin, "It'll be fine."

* * *

"Relax, they're just a bunch a windbags." Gobber says, hammering away in the forge.

"Well that's easy for _you_ ta say." Stoic grumbles as he paces, talking to his good friend. "It's not you they're threatening."

"Well technically they threatened ta take out the village didn' they? I think I'm included in that lot."

"But I'm the chief," Stoic says, gesturing as if Gobber should already understand how that changes everything, "if they're threatening my village then they're threatening me."

"Wha- hold on, I think ya got tha' backwards there."

"Unnatural forces, they said! They said since we have dragons they've got their own 'unnatural forces' I don' get why those halfwits think it's a show of power, we're not expelling tha dragons off tha island just because they're afraid of some nonexistan' competition!"

"Unnatural forces my hind end, they couldn't-"

Tap Click Tap Click Tap Click

Gobber and Stoic halt in their conversation as they hear Hiccup coming and Stoic turns around.

"Hiccup? What are ya doing out of the house?"

"Chief lessons, Dad." Hiccup says with a slightly amused but exasperated sigh at having to go over this again. Stoic opens his mouth to protest but pauses and closes it, already knowing the point Hiccup was going to make if he had objected, and he laughs.

"Alright, alright, I see what you're getting at. Stay here for a moment I have ta… go do something."

Hiccup watches, mildly confused as his father strides off before he turns back to Gobber.

"So what's with him?"

"Oh you know how et is, we've got this tribe to tha north that's upset because were keepin dragons around; they want us to get rid of 'em."

"Wh- Well he's not right?"

"Of course not! He's not going to risk Vikings and dragons on bad terms again!" Hiccup gives a sigh of relief and Gobber ruffles his hair. "OR disappointin' you for that matter. So when am I goin to get my beanpole apprentice back, eh?" Hiccup grins.

"Oh I'll be back soon enough, where else am I going to get free material?"

"Hey! That stuff is not free." Gobber protests, Hiccup laughing as Stoic returns.

"Ready ta go, Son?"

"Always ready, Dad!"

* * *

Hiccup wakes with a gasp in the middle of the night, another fever dream startling him. He gets up with a sigh, rubbing the tired from his face and groans. He was still so hot. Not as bad as he'd been the first night, but still. He gets up setting his feet on the floor with the familiar—tap click—and stretches before sauntering out of his room and out of the front door.

Just a short walk to cool him off, he'd keep his vest on to keep the core of him warm to reassure his dad if he happened to find him walking about.

The cool night air felt good and Hiccup couldn't help but sigh in relief at the light chilly breeze and crunching snow.

He pauses halfway down the street when he hears a clatter behind the blacksmith's stall.

"… Gobber?"

Odd, Gobber wouldn't be up this late at night. Or Hiccup supposed he could be, but he'd more than likely be at the hall, not here. And the dragons knew better than to mess with important supplies like that. He hobbles over, peering into the dead end alley, but there's nothing there but a still rattling shield that was knocked away from leaning against the wall.

Hiccup draws his arms in closer to himself as he slowly creeps into the alley, looking for the source. No one had run off so whatever it was it had to still be here. He takes a deep breath and tells himself to calm down. It must just be a terror, hiding behind outdated shields and weapons to keep from getting a scolding. Nothing any bigger could be hiding back here after all.

He reaches the end of the alley with confusion, after peering behind all the shield, and curiously lays his hand on the cold wooden wall of another building. It was as firm as one would expect it to be… So where did that noise come from?

There's crunching snow behind him and Hiccup turns around and stops. He takes in a shaky gasp, eyes widening as he slowly raises his gaze to meet the eyes of what stood in front of him.

Stoic and half the village are woken by an all too familiar terrified scream.


	4. Glowing Orange Eyes

"Hiccup!"

Stoic rounds the corner to the alley, as he and half the village were searching for Hiccup. Someone had him pinned against the back wall and almost looked to be strangling him—though it was hard to tell past the large viking's size—and Stoic immediately storms in, hammer ready to give this unfamiliar Viking what for. Then the Viking turns and it causes Stoic to stumble in his actions.

Skin nearly blue and dark as the night sky, and bright glowing orange eyes, baring sharp bloodied teeth. Undead.

Stoic charges again, with renewed urgency and worry. He smashed into the undead man with his hammer, breaking down a wall of the blacksmith's stall, and sending him through it all at once. Of course the rest of the tribe had caught on by then and were all running in their direction while Stoic set his hammer down for a moment, picking Hiccup up to check on him. Aside from looking scared half to death, looking pale, and having a coughing fit, he seemed to be fine. Even the bite mark wasn't bleeding now.

"Hiccup- Hiccup are ya alright?"

"Y-yeah," Hiccup says, wide eyed with a shaky voice. "W- what was-"

"DRAUGR!"

They were a myth.

Great monstrous creatures, men risen from the dead who were angry and envious of the living, taking back what they believed was theirs with great strength, magic, and shape shifting. They crushed and ate, and drank the blood of their victims—

And they were very had to kill.

Most of the villagers make a run for it while the strongest try to slay it, and Stoic looks to them and back at Hiccup before tucking him back against the wall behind the old shields to hide.

"Stay here." He says, worried but stern, before picking up his hammer again and running in to the fray. Hiccup leans forward a bit to peak around the shields and watch through the blacksmith's stall. There was only one way to kill a draugr.

Step one, a hero of immense strength must wrestle the draugr into submission. Step two, sever the draugr's head with its own sword. Step three, burn the body and throw the ashes in the sea. Obviously the idea was to make sure the thing was good and dead, but there was a real problem with getting past step one…

Stoic pulls the draugr back from attacking any of the Vikings of the town and delivers mighty blows with both his hammer and his hands, and upon realizing that his opponent was not as weak as the rest the draugr gives an infuriated roar. His features twisted and he grew in size- and he began to take on a new shape entirely until villagers were running for safety as the enormous dragon form of the draugr caused even more destruction.

Hiccup saw all the teens whip past on their dragons and it made him wonder where toothless was. Bounding into the fight looking for him, no doubt, and the last thing Hiccup wanted was for him to get hurt. He pushes the shields off of him and pauses to try and pick one up but finds he's still too sick to have much strength and runs back in the direction of the house without one.

Almost immediately Toothless bowls into him, sending them both tumbling and Toothless jumps back up nudging Hiccup up with his head urgently.

"I know, I know, bud, let's go." Hiccup hops on to Toothless's back and they take to the air.

The Vikings almost instinctively duck as the loud whining sound builds, and Stoic, Gobber, and the teens look up in surprise as Hiccup and Toothless shoot by, blasting the draugr as they pass. The draugr roars out in pain and irritation and raises its massive whip-like tail that was coated in spikes, swinging it around. The spikes, at their widest, were a foot in diameter, and what was worse—

Vikings shouted and screamed and ducked for cover when the spikes shot out much like a nadder's, just to replace themselves a second later to do it again, deeply piercing the ground and completely smashing through wooden walls. Which made flying in the open air dangerous business.

"Kids get down and take cover!" Stoic orders, and the teens and their dragons dive behind thick shields and walls. Except Hiccup of course. "Hiccup get down here righ' this instant!"

"Not yet, I think this is working!"

He wasn't sure if his dad heard him through the wind and the draugr's roaring, but Hiccup and Toothless kept flying, dodging the spikes with a nimbleness that the other dragons just couldn't match. Toothless fired blast after blast with each pass they made and it was becoming clear that they were wearing it down and wearing it down good as it started shrinking in size. Hiccup pumps a triumphant fist in the air, landing with Toothless on the opposite side of the draugr as the village, so that the shrinking dragon kept its focus on him and away from the villagers. Then maybe his dad would have time to steal its sword!

Stoic seemed to be thinking the same thing as he ran after them and the draugr as it continued to shrink and morph back to its more human form. He stops though when, mid change, the draugr turns to Hiccup and Toothless and sucks in a deep rumbling breath. All of them knew that sound too well and Hiccup and Toothless dive separate ways, out of the way, as a blast of fire and shock wave completely tear through the middle of the village.

Everyone tenses at the near miss and Stoic lunges forward, grabbing the sword, and giving it a vast swing. The draugr hits the ground and the rest of the village doesn't hesitate in burning the body. Draugr were just supposed to be creatures from old scary stories, with a real one in front of them they were taking no chances.

With the body burning and the head buried, Stoic starts looking around. He catches eye contact with Gobber who shakes his head, looking just as worried.

He hadn't see Hiccup join the group either.

* * *

**Man, I am legitimately out of practice. There were way too many cliffhangers than intended, lol. Oh well, I promise this is the last cliffhanger you have to deal with- at least for a while~**


	5. Devil

"Hiccup!"  
"Where are you!"  
"Hey I found Toothless, over here!"

Oh no, oh gods no, he doesn't want to see them when they find him like this. Let him die already, just let him die!

"Hiccup!"  
"Poor boy-"  
"Hiccup?!"

Hiccup couldn't say anything; he was struggling to breathe alone. He was lying on a pile of wooden debris from demolished houses, propped up at a little more than a forty-five degree angle, feet hanging loosely. What prevented him from crumpling the rest of the way to the ground was a piece of wood—an old house beam about the thickness of a grown man's fist. It had been snapped in half, and now a small portion was left to jut out of the woodpile.

And Hiccup.

Everyone runs over, jumping over debris, his father calling his name and one or two people scream as they gather around, Stoic front and center. Hiccup struggled to breathe, making no move to exhale but his inhales coming in in short, squeaky, and painful gasps as Stoic's hands hover over him unsure of what to do.

Thor just end him now, Hiccup thought, having to look at their faces was too painful.

Ironic considering the beam that jutted from just under his chest and past the ribs.

One would figure that would be the painful part.

"T-To—"

"He's—he's okay." Stoic says, and Astrid pipes up quietly from just behind him.

"We found him first, he's just… sleeping now, that's all…"

Hiccup would sigh with relief if he wasn't afraid of losing all the breath he was struggling to take in, but his expression must have given it away and made them feel even worse; he didn't even seem to be afraid of dying when all of them were afraid for him. He didn't even really hurt anymore.

With a final reluctant determination, Stoic reaches for Hiccup, gently grasping his shoulder and side to slide him off. It made Hiccup wince and give tiny gasps, but none of it hurt as much as it initially did, and he knew what was going to happen as soon as he was slid off.

So did everyone else.

Once off the beam the blood flowed freely and stood out in a stark and horrifying contrast against his quickly paling skin when he touched it. He lets his arms drop and manages to rest his head back against his father's hand, to give one small and worried frown, looking up at everyone as if to say he's sorry for the disappointment he's causing and that he hopes it won't cause too much trouble.

Then the already limp boy grows heavier in Stoic's arms and Stoic draws him in embracing him, shoulders shaking, and the rest of the village lower their heads.

* * *

Rumor has it that when someone dies, they increase in weight.

The superstitious, like Gobber, would tell you it was supernatural forces. And the logical, like Hiccup, would say that was nonsense, and that it was just the fact that when carrying a live person they tended to shift their wait to maintain a proper balance and make the carrying easier.

Then you had people like Stoic, who would probably say that it was because the dead had nothing to worry about anymore. The dead would run away, and leave all their worries and problems behind with the body. All those oppressive burdens and difficulties that life had thrown at them, and it was all useless to them now so they leave it behind.

Either way, carrying the body to the boat did prove to bring down a heavy weight, not just on Stoic but those who walked with him. All but Toothless, who didn't seem to understand.

He should have died but Hiccup freed him and gave him a new tail fin, Hiccup should have died but he survived the fall and created an entire new leg—one little hole would be no problem for someone as great as Hiccup!

But Hiccup was tired and needed rest, so everyone was carrying him to bed.

They all laid Hiccup down in the boat, perplexing Toothless, but he didn't question it as they placed more things in the boat at well—food and drink and dishes, and some of Hiccups favorite things and a copy of the dragon manual.

Ah, so they were going on a trip! Or just Hiccup was going on a trip it seemed. It would bother the nightfury, but it seemed like it would be a short one, so he could wait.

And then they push the boat out to sea, vaguely wondering how Hiccup was going to get to his destination if he wasn't awake to guide himself. The boat drifted further and further out and suddenly Toothless heard a familiar twang and his ear twitches and he looks back at Stoic with the bow and then suddenly to the light that was flying through the air and his mouth opens slightly as he follow its path.

Then the arrow with the flame strikes the boat and Toothless panics.

What were they doing!?

The quiet funeral quickly erupts with noise and Toothless screeches and runs around in circles, townspeople trying to calm him before finally he takes a huge leap in the air and flies after Hiccup. Without his rider he doesn't get far and splashes into the water, swimming with difficulty to get to Hiccup, all the Vikings crying out or yelling at him. Toothless ignores them and reaches the boat, trying to climb aboard and put out the flames that had started, but he was far too big and the boat rocks and the flames hiss as the water hits them, and suddenly the entire boat and Toothless tip over.

Stoic goes red in the face as Toothless scrambles to climb on top of the capsized boat, all of its contents spilled to be claimed by the bottom of the icy sea.

"Yo-You great beast! You devil!" He shouts across the water, making Toothless shrink down even more than he had been.

It wasn't really Toothless's fault, and they knew Stoic would realize that, but none of the village was going to correct him now, not even Gobber.

Now his son truly was lost to him.

* * *

**Have I ever told you guys how much I love reviews~?  
Sorry guys, it had to be done!**


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